The present invention relates to electronic data processing, and specifically relates to the use of a document stored on-line in a data-processing system by an application program to provide context-sensitive aid to an operator of the application.
Continually decreasing storage costs make it attractive to store more and more of the documentation of a data-processing system on the system itself. Such information is known as "on-line documentation" and "help text".
The prior art has employed a number of methods for storing on-line information, and has even used several methods in the same application program. One or more documents can be shipped with the application as text files, along with a utility program allowing the operator to browse the text files as he would read a printed manual. The browse utility could be integrated with the application. Text records known as "help text" have been included in an application. When the operator presses a "Help" key, code in the application accesses the the text records appropriate to the particular application function currently being executed.
Each of these methods has disadvantages, and additional disadvantages appear when they are used together. On-line information is not intended to be modifiable by the user of the application program. Knowledge of the program internals is required, as well as programming skills. Help text may be so closely integrated into the application that a only the programmer, and not a technical writer, can incorporate it into the program. Neither on-line documents nor help text is easily translatable into other languages for multinational product marketing. When both forms are used in the same application, they are frequently redundant, requiring more storage space. They can be inconsistent with each other, leading to user confusion and extra effort by the application designers to eliminate. Usually, the user or operator must learn at least two different procedures: one for reading the documentation, and another for accessing the help text. On-line documentation is usually not available from inside the application; the operator must leave it, get the documentation, then leave it and restart the application, possibly losing some work in the process. Modification or translation requires the use of different editing tools for the documentation and the help text, making those tasks even more difficult when both forms of on-line information are included in the same application.